Caster.



No. 877,948. PATENTED FEB. 4, 1908.

W. B. RAND;

CASTER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 5, 1907.

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WILLIAM B. RAND, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

CASTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 4, 1908.

Application filed August 5. 1907- Serial No. 387.237.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WVILLIAM B. RAND, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful by the pintle is securely retained within the socket against accidental displacement, but which allows the ready removal of the caster when desired.

The invention will beunderstood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the novel "features thereof are pointed out and clearly defined in the claims at the close of the specification.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of a caster provided with my improved pintle retainer. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of a portion of a table leg or other piece of furniture showing a caster with my improved retainer connected therewith. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of the two spring plates which form the retaining means.

Referring now to the drawings, 4 represents the leg of a piece of furniture formed with a socket opening in which is inserted a metallic socket or holder 5 to receive the pintle 6 of the caster. The pintle 6 of the caster may be of any form desired, the caster shown being what is termed a ball caster having a holder 7 attached to the lower end of the pintle in which is held the ball 81. The particular form of construction however of the caster is immaterial as this forms no part of. the invention, and in fact the invention is adapted to use with other forms of casters than ball casters.

The retaining device consists of two spring plates 8, 9,which are bowed outwards at their middle portions and which are bent inwardly at their ends to form arms perforated for the passage of the pintle, spring 8 being formed with the upper arm 10- and the lower arm 11 having respectively the perforations 12, 13 and the spring 9 being formed with the arms 14, 15, provided with perforations 16, 17, respectively.

The two springs are mounted in position upon the pintle 6, as shown in Fig. 1, before the head 18 is formed, the pintle passing through the perforation 12, 13, 16, 17, which register with each other. After the springs are thus mounted the upper end of the pintle is pinched or riveted down forming a head 18 or some other means is provided to prevent the springs from slipping off the end of the pintle after they are mounted on the pintle. There should be room enough, however, for a slight longitudinal movement of the springs on the pintle. These springs are disposed on opposite sides of the pintle, the length of the arms 11 being about the same as the inner diameter of the socket 5, so that the pintle with attached springs may readily be entered into the socket, but the bows of the springs are normally spread apart a little wider than the diameter of the socket so that when the pintle and springs are pushed into the socket the bowed sides of the springs will be compressed by engaging with the sides of the socket and the tension will be sufficient to retain the pintle within the socket against displacement by *any ordinary use. Preferably, the springs should be bowed out only sufliciently so that after the caster is fully inserted in place the springs will be straightened out as shown in Fig. 2 so that the entire length of the spring will be in contact with the side of the socket.

What I claim is;

In combination with a caster having a pintle, means for retaining the pintle in the socket of a furniture leg, said means comprising two independent plate springs disposed on opposite sides of the pintle, each spring being bent inwardly at its ends to form arms, the arms of the two springs overlapping each other and being perforated for v I the passage of the pintle, the springs being normally bowed outwardly at their middle and adapted to engage the sides of the socket in the leg.

In testimony whereof I afIiX my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM A. COPELAND, ALIcE H. MORRIsON. 

